SHARK TALES From South Africa - Adventure and Danger
With the exception of the occasional passing mountain lion or brown bear, my family stays at the top of the food chain on the homestead. This is reinforced with the fact that we carry firearms on the homestead. But in South Africa, things are different.
One of the favorite parts of my South African trip to Capetown were the stories of Great White shark attacks in the area. Great whites often visit this part of the world and there are some very famous local tales of attacks and cat and mouse games between these monsters and late night poachers. My hosts in country decided to take me down to False Bay and Fish Hoek beach to see some of these places of danger.
The sizes of these sharks are enormous with locals describing them as big as a helicopter or comparable to dinosaurs. Mountain spotters are always at work keeping an eye on the bay and reporting to authorities down below of any shark activity entering the area. The spotters are located up in the mountain overlooking the bay. Lots of houses also sit up on the mountain giving the owners a birds eye view of sharks that may be swimming below.
The Battle of Britain
The first story told to me was that of a British man who went swimming in 2011 at Fish Hoek beach despite there being shark warnings and announcements that day to stay out of the water. Great whites had been seen in the water by mountain spotters and indicator flags were flying on the beach warning swimmers to stay out of the water.
The 42 year old British man Michael Cohen, ignored the warnings and entered the waters anyway for a swim and a great white saw the opportunity for a meal and took advantage of the offering. Moments later, the man was being pulled out of the water by volunteers with most of one leg totally gone and the other leg ripped off below the knee! The shark remained in the bay for 5 straight days after the attack almost daring anyone else to enter the swimming area. Tourist and locals swarmed the area to get a look at the huge shark that made the attack and seemingly refused to leave the area.
Sharks Don't Eat Swim Caps
77 year old Tyna Webb went swimming like she did every morning at Fish Hoek. She was told that shark warnings had been issued by spotters on the mountain above the beach. Her response was that she had seen warnings before and she was not worried. She had been taking her daily swim for years and wasn't concerned with the warnings. So in she went!
Paul Bennet whose home was only about 100 meters up the mountain said he just got done showering and looked out the window of the beach and saw what he thought was a shark churning in the water with a seal. But it quickly became apparent that this was no seal. It was human! The shark attacked and churned in the water with Webb and then appeared to swim away before darting right back and completely consuming Tyna Webb from the water. Rescue boats and a helicopter showed up moments later and witnesses say the 6 meter shark was bigger than the helicopter. She was gone in two bites and the only thing that remained was her floating red swim cap.
Life and Death Shell Game
The most fascinating story that was told to me during my trip was about the illegal abalone snail trade in South Africa. This is a billion dollar industry that transports endangered abalone snails to Asia where people pay enormous amounts of money to eat them in expensive restaurants. The South African abalone snail is regarded as the best tasting abalone in the world and is highly sought after. South African poachers alone are paid roughly $440 million dollars a year for their efforts. South African and Capetown law enforcement are always looking for the poachers who mostly operate at night. But with this much money in the industry, most of the police are paid to look the other way and to put forth only a half hearted effort to bring the poachers to justice.
For an Abalone poacher, one nights catch can set you up with enough money to live rich for an entire year. There is only one big obstacle in your way and it's not the police. It's the great white shark. No amount of illegal cash payoffs gets these massive monsters to look the other way. During my visit, I was told that a buyer will arrange 7 poachers to go out at night and outfit them with scuba gear and everything needed to bring back a haul of abalone snails. But while 7 go out, the chances are very high that maybe only 5 or 6 will come back in to collect their massive reward. All it takes is one good score but you have to make it there and back alive to collect it. With payouts so big, there is no shortage of adventurous individuals willing to take a chance at this illegal South African industry.
So, those are my shark tales from South Africa. This country is full of fantastic beauty, and the adventurous stories of danger and intrigue only add to its character.
Do you have a shark story? Leave a comment below. I'd love to hear it!
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Learnt something new.
I thought abalony was a fish.
no, it is sliced lunchmeat. It's first name is O-S-C-A-R. It's last name is M-E-Y-E-R. I love to eat it everyday. Cause Oscar Meyer has a way with a-b-a-l-o-n-y. Just a little funny here. I was surprised he called it a snail. I thought it was more like a giant oyster. Beautiful shells.
They say its a snail. They look kinda like snails.
its amaizing that shark dnt eat swim caps @mericanhomestead and why the people ignored the warnings like that british man
They think that the shark won't eat them. "Oh what are the chances?" they ask. Pretty good actually if everyone else is out of the water but you. LOL
Very interesting story. The pictures are good, too. I love your posts, and I had made a comment the other day giving you credit for me being on steemit. Hope to see you again next time you are in Pocola.
Hey Granny! Sorry I must have missed your comment. Sometimes I rarely get the chance to breathe around here. Not sure when I will be up around Pocola again but I'll keep you in mind!
Fascinating but yet I wonder why they do not kill or remove them.
Sharing to twitter.
They just let the sharks rule the water. People would rather get eaten instead of doing something about predatory wildlife.
And therein lies crazy...
Because they were there first my friend ;). The answer to wildlife that kills or otherwise inconveniences humans is not to kill it, but to figure out how to limit those interactions and manage them in a positive way.
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I had to laugh at your meep meep. Keep steemin.
Zac, I am always happy with your content so whatever you talk about I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy, resteem and up-vote, but I am still trying to figure out the ZA trip. I don't think you were on vacation while there and I never heard you were going. I'm sure you weren't there to praise the ANC. I've always been to ZA in their late Fall to early Winter. I've always seen whales from the Steenbras River Mouth ( just up the strand from fish hoek) to Hermanus. Of course, Summer (when you were there) may not be the time to see them either? I see you made it to the Stellenbosch area, but I don't know if you tried any of the best wines in the world? I see you made it to Fish Hoek, but don't know if you saw any whales or not? Did you "dive" with the Great Whites? Did you see the Paarl? I hope there is more ZA trip content coming in the future, I'm even willing to bet the back story of why you were there will be interesting.
yes mantap
I hate sharks. I have been afraid of them ever since i saw Jaws when i was about 10 years old. I wouldn't go in the water for a year after that. Hell i was even afraid to go in the bathtub (drove my mother nuts). I got over the fear of water but still hate sharks.
No shark tales to share. But glad you got to visit our gorgeous coast!
And that you got to share stories on some of our wild life 😜
wow I didn't know about the illegal South African snail trade until now.